How long does valium stay in your system?

Introduction

Valium, which now often referred to as Diazepam is a medicinal drug that belongs to the class of drugs called a benzodiazepine. Benzodiazepines are known to be a drug that produces a calming effect on the person treated with.Usually referred to as diazepam, it is used to treat a various range of conditions;

To treat anxiety and anxiety-related conditions like panic attacks or certain agitation stages.
To treat certain conditions associated with vertigo-like some neurovegetative symptoms.
To treat alcohol withdrawal in alcoholics.
It is often used during medical procedures to provide sedation to the patient, and this is because the drug works by providing a calming effect to the brain and nerves and thus patient undergoes sedation.
Since this drug has a calming effect and therefore can be used to treat short-term insomnia.
Used to treat muscle spasms relief.
During hyperbaric oxygen therapy, this drug is used as a preventive treatment for the toxicity of oxygen.

This drug can cause addiction

Since this drug can cause addiction, the consumption of this should be done carefully. Diazepam should be taken as per doctor’s prescription and as directed by the doctor, that is with or without food. If a solution that is concentrated is being used, that should be consumed using a proper medicine dropper that is provided. Since this is concentrated it should be mixed with the right amount of liquid.

As mentioned already the drug can cause addiction and therefore should be handled with care and therefore dosage of the drug is different from person to person depending on the age, condition of the sickness, and how the patient responds to the drug. Depending on how the patient responds to the drug or depending on how the side effects patients are facing the doctor only should decide if the dosage of the drug should be changed as in increased or decreased.

As this drug causes a calming effect for the patient

As this drug causes a calming effect for the patient, suddenly stopping it may cause symptoms of withdrawal in the patient. To prevent this condition, the dosage is now reduced at once rather it will be reduced slowly and a little by little.So the usage of valium(Diazepam), in large amounts only or for a longer time only will result in such withdrawal symptoms.

Certain foods are not recommended to be taken when this drug is also taken, such as grapefruits are advised to be avoided when taking this medication as grapefruit may increase the additive symptoms. Certain side effects are dizziness, blurred vision, drowsiness, and unsteadiness. The doctor who is treating you should be informed immediately if these symptoms get worse over time. Even certain allergies may occur due to this drug and therefore a clear medical history should be provided to the doctor, before the medicine is prescribed, or if allergic reactions occur after taking the drug immediately inform the doctor.

The various effects of valium

Even for adults this drug may sometimes cause severe side effects, and therefore for the children, the side effects are at more risk as instead of causing a calming effect, this drug would cause hallucinations, restlessness, and agitation. A range of mental and mood changes are observed in children that have been prescribed this drug therefore this drug is not commonly prescribed to children.

Patients that are much older also will have certain adverse side effects, they will have a worse scenario of drowsiness compared to that of normal aged patients and therefore they will lose coordination and may end up falling. Much older adults also have a risk of mental and mood changes just like in that of children such as hallucinations, agitation, and restlessness.

This drug is not recommended for use during pregnancy. After giving birth also this drug is not advised to be used as the drug may pass through the breast milk to the baby and cause severe side effects for the infant consuming breast milk. Even during pregnancy if the drug is used it can cause unpleasant effects for the unborn baby.

While going for certain lab tests it is advised not to take this drug as it can cause false-positive results and may interfere with the lab test.

The ways valium can enter your body

The drug can be given as a tablet and therefore oral route administration.The intravenous route is usually used during surgeries to give sedation.How long does valium stay in your system?

To see how long valium stays in your system, it should be detected there are certain ways to detect it. Blood or plasma assays can be done to detect the levels of the drug in blood and plasma.Usually, the levels of diazepam concentrations in blood or plasma are usually in a range of 0.1 – 1.0mg/l in a person who usually receives the drug in a therapeutic way.

Immunoassays are also done to quantify and accurately identify the drug in a person and also using this way we can detect how long the drug has been inside the system.

The half-life of valium is certainly very high. Half-life the time taken for half of the drug or the metabolites of the drug to leave the body.The time valium remains in the blood, urine, and saliva differs quite a lot.

The half-life of the drug valium in the blood is around 30 to 56 hours. There considerably it might take an average of at least 10 days for the drug to completely leave the system.

The different time period the drug may remain in different places in the body are as follows;

In urine, the drug and the active metabolites of the drug may remain for up to six weeks.
In blood, the drug and the active metabolites of the drug may remain for up to 48 hours.
In saliva, the drug and the active metabolites of the drug may remain for up to 10 days.
In hair, the drug and the active metabolites of the drug may remain for up to 90 days.

How long the drug and the active metabolites of the drug valium stay in your system may be affected due to certain reasons such as; age, weight, body fat content, amount of drug taken, other drugs present in the system, liver and kidney health, method of ingestion and metabolism rate.

How the age may affect is because of how fast the metabolism of the person is with age due to certain health defects metabolism may vary and also depending on the activity of the person using it.

The amount of drug taken by the person also affects the time the drug stays inside the body, as if a higher amount is taken by the patient then the amount that has to be broken down is also higher.

Liver and kidney health is important in the breakdown of a drug

If other drugs are present in your system, the body usually breakdown the ones that might produce harmful metabolites initially or the drugs that have a shorter half-life initially. It also depends if other drugs are present in the system when valium is present and if those drugs have a simpler configuration than valium that would be broken down and first and leaves the system first.

Liver and kidney health is important in the breakdown of a drug, if the liver condition is not good then the breakdown would be delayed and thus the drug will stay much longer, or if the liver does not work properly it might not breakdown the drug at all and the drug therefore not leave the system any longer (it would breakdown eventually). If the kidney condition is not, then the drug would not be excreted out of the body properly.

Method of ingestion is also a factor that affects the time that the drug valium stays in your system because if it is by the rectal route it takes time to enter the blood then to be broken-down which takes time. Metabolism rate is the most important as this rate is what affects, how fast the drug valium would be broken down and therefore coherently how fast the drug would leave the body.

The more efficiently it is detected the easier to see how long the was inside the system or if it is inside the system. Usually, a test done by using saliva to detect how the drug has been inside the system can approximately detect up to almost back to 7 to 9 days since the initial time the drug was taken.

Urine tests that are done can detect up to almost several weeks since the last dose of the drug taken and even the active metabolites of the drug can be identified. Hair follicle tests are also done where these tests can detect up to almost 90 days, but this test is not usually used as this not reliable as much as the others.

The longer the drug valium stays in your body, the harmful it may end up for the patient using it. Using valium can give side effects, but if it stays for a long time than the designated time, it can make the side effects adverse and severe. The person might lose coordination and have impaired movements. The patient may lose consciousness slightly and therefore be unresponsive for some time. Shortness of breath may occur.

As said before valium can be addictive and therefore if the drug even remains accidentally for a longer time than the designated time, that may cause severe addiction and develop a tolerance for the drug. Due to the addiction and because the drug remains longer in the system, the need to obtain the drug increases, and therefore a higher amount of the drug will be taken by the patient than the first because of the addiction to the drug.

Summary

Valium can cause a certain loss of present memory and therefore by any consequence if the drug valium stays in the system for a longer time and if we do not know that it is inside our system and if we consume, sedative pills, sleeping pills and even alcohol that may cause severe fatal and life-threatening side effects in the system.

Since the longer the drug valium stays in your system since it becomes a problem, to consult a doctor is primitive and the doctor would suggest a lower dose and then test if the time taken would differ.